The 5th Guards Tank Army (Russian: 5-я гварде́йская та́нковая а́рмия) was a SovietGuards armoured formation which fought in many notable actions during World War II.

The 5th Tank Army was formed in June 1942 in the Moscow Military District. In late July its units were re-assigned. In April 1943 converted into the 12th Army. Commanders: Maj. Gen. A.I. Liziukov ( June- July 1942) and Maj. Gen. P. S. Rybalko ( (July - Oct 1942).In Jan- Feb 1943 reformed as the 5th Guards Tank Army. Commanders: Lt. Gen. Tank Tr.P. A. Rotmistrov (Feb 1943- Aug 1944), Lt. Gen. Tank Tr. M. D. Solomatin (Aug 1944), Lt. Gen. Tank Tr. V. T. Vol'sky (Apr 1944-Mar 1945), and Maj. Gen. Tank Tr. M. D. Sinenko (Mar- May 1945). Its organisation varied throughout its history, but in general included two or more Guards Tank Corps and one or more Guards Mechanized Corps. It was considered an elite formation. Under Red Armydoctrine of deep operations, Tank Armies were primarily to be used for large-scale exploitation of major offensives. Once a breach in enemy lines had been made by other units (typically Shock Armies or combined-arms armies), the tank army would be inserted into the gap to drive deep into enemy territory, attacking rear areas and seizing major communications centers to disrupt the enemy reactions. Tank armies were expected to penetrate up to several hundred kilometers into the enemy rear.

In June 1944, the 5th Guards Tank Army was used as the main exploitation force during the Soviet summer offensive, Operation Bagration. The formation was committed to an attack along and parallel to the main Moscow–Minsk road, following initial breakthroughs by the rifle divisions of 11th Guards Army, and was instrumental in completing the encirclement and destruction of German forces at Minsk. It was then employed in the third phase of Operation Bagration. High casualties in this campaign, however, led to the unit's commander Lieutenant-General Pavel Rotmistrov being relieved of command and replaced with Vasily Volsky.

However, by March 1945, the 5th Guards Tank Army was being drawn down, with the subordinate 10th Tank Corps moved first to direct subordination of the 3rd Belorussian Front and then the STAVKA Reserve by 1 April 1945. This left the 5th Guards Tank Army with a single tank corps, the 29th, under its control.[2] This reduction in strength coincided with the hospitalization of the 5th GTA's commanding general, Vasily Volsky, for tuberculosis.[3] Volsky did not return to the army (he died in February 1946) and Major General Maxim Sinenko [Синенко Максим Денисович] took command from 16 March 1945 to the end of the war.[4]

After the war, Rotmistrov wrote a memoir and history of the unit, The Steel Guards.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the army was converted into the 5th Guards Army Corps of the Armed Forces of Belarus, which was still active in September 2001, when the Belarus Minister of Defence, General Lieutenant Leonid Maltsev, congratulated the remaining Belarus Guards units on 60 years of existence. [6] However within a year the headquarters of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Belarus was established on its basis.[7]